HERITAGE, BY HOMEOWNERS

UNIQUE, INIMITABLE, OUR OLD HOUSES EMBODY THE PAST, even as they must by necessity adapt to changing culture and technology.

After signed a into joint law, Congressional the National resolution Trust for was Historic Preservation began celebrating Preservation Week in 1973. The Presidential proclamation read, in part: “As the pace of change accelerates in the world around us, Americans more than ever need a lively awareness of our roots and origins in the past on which to base our sense of identity in the present and our directions for the future.” In 2005, the Trust extended the celebration to the whole month of May. At the national, state, and local levels, organizations host events, instill community pride, promote heritage tourism, and share information about the benefits of preservation. This retrospective looks at what private homeowners can do in their own houses.

“We own an 1890 Queen Anne Victorian home. After putting in major renovations for 10 years ( boiler, electric, central air— and pushbutton light switches), we’ve arrived at the ‘pretty’ interior work. We are thrilled that the woodwork has never been painted! OHJ celebrates [our] labor of love. In a world where magazines and TV shows push open concept, painted woodwork, white kitchens (while calling that ‘maintaining history’), we thank you for standing for the integrity of historic houses [and] those of us who treasure their features.” —the case family, elwood, indiana

Celebrating preservation is not the same as calling for period rooms. Many people don’t want the fuss or expense of a revival interior. Preservation allows for painting the plaster walls white and hanging modern art. Preservation doesn’t demand putting back what was lost.

It’s critical to understand the difference between what is permanent (ripping out the main staircase) and what is ephemeral (painting a bedroom blue). Not that it’s always so clear, of course: painting original, natural-finish mahogany or quarter-sawn oak comes to mind. It’s reversible, sure, but only after pain and suffering, and with an environmental cost.

Unlike restoration, which can be conjectural and expensive and is rarely a mandate, preservation is an easy call. At the core, it means “let it be.” Whether the work at hand involves restoration, rehabilitation, or remodeling, having a preservation mindset is good because it helps avoid destruction. Much of our old housing stock holds rare material, magnificent craftsmanship—and our cultural history. Old houses often suggest valuable lessons: Aren’t pocket doors proof that an open plan sometimes needs to be closed?

As temporary inhabitants, we should resist destroying things, especially the good work of the past and anything that managed to survive decades or centuries of use. We should respect the workmanship we find, and honor materials that may be no longer available or affordable.

In what is now the dining area of a 1770s half-Cape in coastal Massachusetts, the woodwork is original to the well-preserved house. The fireplace retains its bake oven.

OPPOSITE Period wallpaper, a converted gaslight, and American Empire antiques attest to appreciation of this Greek Revival house, assuring the preservation of its fine plaster and woodwork. A succession of owners apparently understood its worth, whatever their generation’s prevailing tastes. ABOVE Most old houses are not exemplars, and nobody famous ever lived there. But even a stoic half-Cape like this one embodies 250 years of history and, well preserved, is a cultural artifact. A cluster of old houses defines a neighborhood or town.